Beware of SEDO Fees!

I sold a domain on SEDO. Normally, I goes without troubles but this time, I got "screwed". Yes, part of it is my own fault and admit that. I had many things going on at the same time so I missed a key point during the transaction.

It was not my first domain sell with them. I sold a few $100-200 domains and paid a fee of $10-20 (10%). I don't have a problem with that since I get a secure transfer between me and my buyer.

But late last week, I had a PageRank 3 domain (formally a PR4 that I paid much more) that I was selling for $60. I got the email that it was just sold.

I then gave the information to push the domain to the new owner to get paid. Here the kicker, when I got paid, I got $10. What? $10? They paid me the commission so I went to check the transaction again since it must had been a clerical error.

I was pissed! The commission was $50. Again, WTF!!!!

I email them to why this high fee. When using MLS (it's there by default), the domain can be sold via other sites. Normally, it's 20% but in this case:

This buyer was referred by our SedoMLS partner GoDaddy.

Sales referred through the SedoMLS Promotion Channel are subject to a 20% commission (minimum fee of 50 USD applies). Sedo’s commission for this sale is 50 USD and you have earned 10 USD.

That's the key point that I missed.

When I first checked the transaction, I must had seen the $50 has being my net profit and not the commission. Like I said, that part was my fault.

Maybe I was lucky that my previous higher priced domains did not use the MLS system when sold. One last thing. I asked if I can remove MLS and it's not possible.

So, if you sell a domain on SEDO, beware to price your domain accordingly in case you get hit with a $50 minimum fee from MLS. I then quickly raised the price of some of my domains that had more value that $10.

One last thing, you can still park your domain if you registrar don't offer that option.